Solar cell arrays are often used as a power source for spacecraft, such as satellites orbiting the earth. A typical satellite orbiting the earth has a spacecraft platform from which is attached or otherwise extends one or more solar cell arrays. A solar cell array is typically formed by a number of solar cell panels coupled to each other in some configuration and supported by a structure.
In an effort to make solar cell arrays more compact to stow and less cumbersome to deploy beyond the earth's atmosphere, solar cell panels may be manufactured using a flexible substrate. Various flexible solar cell panels are known, such as those fabricated from a fiberglass, carbon composite, or thin polymeric substrate, upon which are bonded thinned crystalline solar cells, or from thin metallic foils upon which are fabricated amorphous silicon solar cells. Examples of flexible solar panels include thin-film photovoltaics manufactured by ITN Energy Systems, Inc. of Littleton, Colo., UNI-SOLAR® modules manufactured by United Solar Ovonic, L.L.C. of Auburn Hills, Mich., and FRUSA (Flexible Rolled Up Solar Array) assemblies with crystalline solar cells manufactured by Applicant, The Boeing Company of Chicago, Ill.
Various apparatus and methods of stowing and deploying solar cell arrays have been attempted. For example, solar panels can be individually supported by pivotally connected beams that nest within each other in the stowed position and that extend to form a solar array. Another method of stowing and deploying a solar cell array includes the use of slit-tube longerons and flat sheets stowed as a rolled structure, and allowing the rolled structure to deploy by unrolling in response to heat from the sun. Still another method of stowing and deploying a solar array includes providing a mechanism for deploying and retracting a plurality of hinged isogrid panels having solar cells supported by individual base structures, stowed in a folded stack and arranged for automatic deployment into a long continuous strip or array.
Improvements to the present state of solar cell array technology are desirable. Particularly desirable are improvements to the present state of flexible solar cell array technology used with spacecraft, including the stowing, deploying, and deployment of a solar cell array attached to a spacecraft in orbit around a planetary body or otherwise located beyond the earth's atmosphere.